Taking Care of Bid-ness

By

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April 22, 2011

Austin, Texas, the heart of Longhorn country, might seem a strange place to find an Oklahoma resident and proud Sooner grad.
But Matt Beckham, CEO of QuiBids.com, was on a mission. He was part of the Oklahoma contingent at the annual SXSW Conference, speaking at a presentation about online startups and entrepreneurship.

He should know all about startups. Beckham’s company, Oklahoma City-based QuiBids.com, is shaking up the online retail auction industry by adding a bit of fun to the equation.

He got the inspiration from a discussion about penny auctions. QuiBids is taking it to a whole other level.

“It’s like eBay with a twist,” says Jill Farrand, director of public relations for QuiBids.

Bidders register at the site, and buy bids in packs. Each bid placed costs 60 cents, Farrand says. When a user places a bid, he is the current high bidder, and the price of the item increases by either one, five, 10 or 20 cents, Farrand says.

Each time a bid is placed, a countdown timer adds a few more seconds, sort of like the “going once, going twice” call in a real-life auction. The last one to place a bid wins the auction, potentially saving 99 percent off of retail price.

Even losers on a bid will get a chance to buy their item for retail cost minus price of the bids they placed.

The website has a “QuiBids 101” section for novices to learn the ropes.

While many startups may immediately seek out real estate in Silicon Valley, Beckham decided to stay put in Oklahoma City.

He says he already had the right executive team in Oklahoma City, for starters. He grew up on the northwest side of the city and went to college at the University of Oklahoma.

“I’ve lived around the Oklahoma City area my whole life,” he says.

Oklahoma City’s growing stature on the national scene is helping him recruit technological talent, he notes.

The company is making sure to reinvest in the Oklahoma City community, supporting area charities such as the Oklahoma AIDS Care Fund and Make-A-Wish Foundation of Oklahoma, along with the individual organizations executives are involved with.

Farrand says QuiBids is planning on taking the concept of fun bidding up a notch by introducing online games that would reward people with free bids. That should be introduced soon, she says.

QuiBids then plans on going global, expanding to English speaking countries, most likely starting with the United Kingdom and Canada.

Women At War

By

Paul Fairchild

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April 21, 2011

Wars define eras. They are events that take place on such a huge scale that millions are involved. Nations are broken. Maps are changed. Many stories come out of wars. They are the stories that show a nation’s character, show the character of its people and show the character of its soldiers.

World War II

During World War II, you couldn’t find women in the trenches, you couldn’t find them on attack boats, but you could see them in the sky. Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASPs) flew all manner of U.S aircraft, delivering and repositioning them to bases across the country as needed and freeing up male pilots for combat overseas.

Those planes were held together by the work of Mazie native Ruby Taylor and her colleagues. Her job was just as tough as flying a plane. As an airplane mechanic at Tinker Field (there was no “Air Force” then), she repaired planes. Only a teenager, she worked there through the war.

“The whole group was women. The only ones that weren’t women were supervisors, but most of the work was done by women,” says Taylor. “And every one of the ladies worked in all temperatures.”

Taylor and 20 million other women that filled in jobs for the men shipped overseas gave birth to the cultural icon, Rosie the Riveter.

Vietnam

On Aug. 7, 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson declared war on Vietnam, a small Asian country of which most Americans had never heard. By 1969, the draft was on and hundreds of thousands of young men were sent overseas to fight communists in the sweaty jungles and muddy rice paddies of Vietnam.

At home, the Age of Aquarius was in full swing. San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury had been transformed into the hippie capital of the United States. Woodstock was more popular than anybody could have expected. These were the images Americans saw on TV during dinner. But they were often sandwiched between shots of body bags and a young Dan Rather fumbling for the words to describe the atrocities of war.

By this time, the potential for women’s service in the military was recognized by all four of its branches. More than 10,000 women – not including those that served in the States – served in Vietnam. Just like their male counterparts, they won Purple Hearts and Bronze Stars.

Before the Vietnam War was acknowledged as a failure, Oklahoman Carol Mannahan served as a nurse at central California’s coastal Fort Ord. A member of the U.S. Army Nurse Corps, Mannahan tended to the thousands of wounded American soldiers sent home for medical treatment that they couldn’t receive in Vietnam.

Mannahan signed on at a time when being shipped out to Vietnam was a real possibility.

“I was in Iowa at nursing school at the time. Some recruiters came to our school. The Vietnam War was going on, and I felt like I should do something meaningful in that war,” she says.

“When these recruiters came, I thought, ‘I could be a nurse and help these soldiers.’ It was pretty exciting to have those recruiters come and speak to our class about the role of nurses in the military. I was ready for a challenge, too. I was young but wanted to travel. This was the opportunity.”

“One of the young men trained everybody in the unit to sit at attention while I walked down the ward. He felt that, as a lieutenant, I should have respect."

The Vietnam War did for Mannahan’s family what it did for so many others – split it right down the middle. While politicians civilly debated the value of the war on television and in newspapers, heated arguments raged in many American households. It was fully unlike World War II, when, once the nation committed to war in Europe, everybody saw the necessity of helping out with the war effort. There were no rubber or scrap metal drives during the Vietnam War.

“The Vietnam War was not popular,” she says. “I wasn’t a politically involved young woman at the time, so that didn’t matter to me. The husband of my roommate in nursing school was killed over there, and that had a big impact on me. I saw a big need there for nursing care. I wasn’t at all aware of the political climate. After I enlisted, my family got a lot of pushback about it. A family member said some hurtful things to my father about it. My dad was really proud of me for doing this, while this family member said some really derogatory things about me for doing it. That led to a huge confrontation.”

The fighting continued overseas while the squabbling continued stateside. The soundtrack for both included bands and performers that would change music forever. Mannahan’s favorites were The Beatles, Iron Butterfly, Simon and Garfunkel and Santana.

At Fort Ord, Mannahan specialized in orthopedics. She never stood on the battlefield, but she did a lot of moving around the wounded. She saw more than her fair share of the casualties of war.

A First Lieutenant, Mannahan took the night shift at the base hospital. She supervised five orthopedic wards, each one having 30 to 40 patients at any given time.

Each and every day put her in close contact with soldiers – men – who were used to female nurses, but who weren’t used to female officers. But getting and keeping their respect was never an issue.

“They were unbelievably respectful of me. One of the young men trained everybody in the unit to sit at attention while I walked down the ward. He felt that, as a lieutenant, I should have respect. Every time I walked down the ward, if they could stand they would, and they sat up if they couldn’t. But he felt it was important for the men to show that respect,” recalls Mannahan.

The women’s liberation movement gathered a lot of steam after the Vietnam War. With 20,000 female boots on the ground in Vietnam, it’s not surprising. You didn’t have to be a soldier to see women doing traditionally male military jobs. That realization led directly to arguments about fairness in the workplace and equal pay. It also gave birth to a small argument about the ability of women to serve on the front line. It’s an argument that’s been in play since the mid 1970s and continues today.

Operation Desert Shield

Twenty-five years after Mannahan returned to college, Oklahoman Angela Hall joined the Navy. Serving from 1995 to 2000, Hall, Petty Officer 3rd Class, just missed Operation Desert Shield. But she saw her fair share of action in the Gulf War as a civilian contractor with Haliburton shortly after she left the military.

“I had to get out of the military to go to a war zone,” she jokes.

Before she joined, America had taken its place as the only global superpower. The Cold War was over and all of Ted Turner’s employees had bits and pieces of the Berlin Wall encased in plastic paperweights on their desks. There were, of course, hot spots around the world, but “Pax Americana‚” appeared achieved. Then President George Bush sent American troops to defend Kuwait and later to push the Iraqi army back to Baghdad.

U.S. forces destroyed the opposition, and Operation Desert Shield showed the rest of the world that America would go to war to protect its allies and preserve the peace. It also showed the U.S. military’s willingness to put women in combat roles, particularly as artillerymen. U.S. soldiers – men and women alike – were recognized the world over as nothing short of the best of the best.

Even in peacetime, the Navy kept Hall busy. She served as a hospital corpsman, somewhere between a nurse and a paramedic, she says.
“You basically rotate jobs. I did everything from working the ambulances on the base to doing screenings for sick call to medical records and training people that were getting ready to transfer overseas,” she says.

Evolving Roles

The military’s come a long way since Rosie the Riveter. It’s 2011, and the armed forces are committing women to the same dangerous jobs as men (except for serving in the infantry). But for those thinking that the Tailhook Scandal is par for the course in the Navy, Hall disagrees.

“I think where we would have run into negative attitudes would have been on the ships themselves,” she says. “But I didn’t have any problems with the male sailors I worked with.”

Like many in the service, Hall wrestles with the question of whether women should be on the front lines of military conflicts.

“I think there are women that can do the job. However, I think men are naturally inclined to protect women and I think that if they see a woman injured, they’d react differently than if it were a man. They’d lose their train of thought if they saw a wounded woman instead of a wounded man. And that’ll put everyone in danger,” she says.

But she doesn’t waver in her belief that women are capable of serving on the front lines.

“Physically, if they’re able to pass the tests, then women should go for it. But the standards shouldn’t be lowered in order for a women to fill those spots,” she says.

Eventually, the U.S. will allow women to serve as infantrymen – without lowering standards. The Congressional Military Leadership Commission, established in 2009, is already leaning on the Pentagon to do so, but they do not have to lean too hard. President Barack Obama’s Pentagon is signaling legislators that it’s ready to make the change. And a very small number of women are about to be placed on the front lines in Afghanistan.

From Rosie the Riveter to nursing the wounded to seeing the whites of the enemy’s eyes, women have long been essential to American war efforts.

Yes, We Can!

By

Natasha Ball

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April 21, 2011

Amelia Earhart, Queen Elizabeth I, Wilma Mankiller, Sandra Day O’Connor – each was a woman who excelled in a position that, up until her time, was dominated and often aggressively guarded by men as being off-limits to those of, as it was once called, the fairer sex.

While being the first woman to break into a male-dominated field earns real estate in the history books, there’s no reason women today can’t take small steps to take charge of and earn independence in their own lives. Creating a comprehensive financial plan, warding off an attacker, changing the oil in the car or rewiring an historic home – none of these jobs need land on a honey-do list.

What Women ‘Auto’ Know

A woman’s intelligence isn’t always given its due in the decidedly male-dominated world that is the auto repair shop.

“When I went to shop for a car, it bothered me that I was talked down to,” says Julie Dermody, marketing director at Keystone Chevrolet in Sand Springs.

“I’m a trucker’s daughter; I knew my way around a vehicle. I wasn’t intimidated. I felt patronized. Any woman can feel that way when she walks into a dealership.”

For women in the same boat, Keystone Chevrolet offers the quarterly “What Women Auto Know” course. The evening courses run two to three hours and are “very in-depth – we ask that the women wear grubbies. We make them get into it,” Dermody says.

“What we wanted to provide is a way for ladies to know more about their cars so that they feel comfortable when seeing a mechanic,” Dermody says. “No one likes to be taken advantage of.”

The next course is scheduled for June 9. The cost of enrollment is $20.

“The class is taught by a female ASE-certified mechanic. She is so knowledgeable, and the fact that she’s a mechanic seems to make women more comfortable asking questions. As I like to say, in those classes, it’s just us girls,” Dermody says.

The number one lesson that is taught in the class, Dermody says, is to not neglect vehicle maintenance.

“That $40 oil change done on time saves thousands in future repairs,” agrees Lonnie Vaughan, executive director of the Tulsa-based nonprofit Car Care Clinic Inc.

Car Care Clinic hosts monthly events at which they ask that individuals low on funds but in need of car repairs buy necessary parts, and then they provide the labor at no cost. A single mom is a common face at the clinics.

“Women shouldn’t be afraid to raise the hood of a car and ask questions. You don’t need to know how to do a brake job. Instead, figure out how to check your oil and your fluids. It’s something that, after women do it, they’re glad they did. It’s empowering,” Vaughan says.
Next come the tires and making sure that the air pressure inside is appropriate for a particular car.

“Not only will it save you money in gas, but it will also help you to get better wear on your tires,” Vaughan says.

Awareness Is Safety

Each of us – man or woman – is ultimately in charge of our own protection.

Good thing the first rule of self-defense isn’t strength or size. According to Brandon Bennett, lead instructor at Relentless Martial Arts in Tulsa, awareness is the best weapon against an attacker.

“Here’s an exercise: Pretend you’re a mugger,” Bennett says. “If I were a mugger and I was going to mug someone like me, how would I do it?”

Bennett says spots to study are what he calls transitional areas – places like parking lots, walkways and coat rooms where there are large numbers of people but no crowds or congregating.

“If the drunk guy who doesn’t want to take no for an answer approaches you while you’re at a party, that’s not such a big deal. But if he corners you in the coat room, that can be scary,” Bennett says.

“What you learn by pretending to be a mugger is who you would target and why. What you’ll find is that criminals target individuals who are fixated on a task – talking on their cell phones, looking for their keys,” Bennett says. “These behaviors tell an attacker that you’re vulnerable.”

Don’t worry about investing in various self-defense gadgets, Bennett says, especially if the only place that something like handheld mace will ever see is the bottom of a purse.

“If that mace is on your keychain and not in your hand, it’s not going to be of use to you,” Bennett says. “You’re not going to have time to dig it out once an attacker makes his move. The number one thing that works is mindset.”

Bennett advises both men and women in his martial arts courses to commit to exercise and maintaining physical fitness.
“Someone who is in shape is less of a target,” Bennett says.

Resisting is important when it comes to defusing a threatening situation, too, Bennett says, though “resisting doesn’t always mean fighting against an attacker.

“Maybe it’s giving up a billfold or a purse to avoid being abducted and transported to a secondary crime scene. An attacker wants one of three things: Your property, your body or your life. Decide ahead of time: What are you willing to surrender?”

Do It Herself

The days of even the simplest home repair requiring the services of a contractor are safely behind us.

Thanks to the free workshops like the ones offered at The Home Depot – held under the banner Do It Herself, they put home maintenance and repair squarely into the hands of the busy, modern woman – the honey-do list could experience the same fate.

The courses are designed to help women refresh and revitalize anything that will help to make a home more appealing, as well as to boost resale value, says Mitchell Johnson, manager of operations at The Home Depot store at 9808 E. 71st St. in Tulsa.

“This isn’t how to change a light bulb – these are full-scale projects we tackle in these classes,” Johnson says.

Past projects have featured how-tos on plumbing and lighting; the most recent class was a full bathroom remodel, including how to install toilets, bathtubs, floors and fixtures.

“The Home Depot was founded during a recession,” Johnson says. “People couldn’t afford to hire contractors to come in and fix things, add value to their homes – they had to figure out how to do those things themselves. We provided information and created DIY classes. The Do It Herself workshops are our way of getting back to that.”

Add the fact that women make the majority of household purchase decisions, and “this is simply what our customers want,” Johnson says.

About 100 women register for each class, Johnson says, and the products used during the courses are offered to participants at a discount.

“So many women come to our class and say, ‘I understand the larger scope of this project, but I’ve gotten to this certain point and I’m not sure what to do.’ It’s the little questions that we’re answering. Women know what they’re doing,” Johnson says.

Money (And Knowledge) Is Power

Census information reveals that the average age of widowhood is 55. Add to that fact that, also according to the Census, divorce rates range from 36 to 50 percent.

One look at just those two statistics and it quickly stops making sense for a woman to leave her financial life solely in the hands of the men in her life.

“Women need to be just as aware as men of family finances, and all plans should be made as partners, not by one or the other,” says John Cary, financial advisor, senior vice president and financial planning specialist at Morgan Stanley Smith Barney in Tulsa.

“If one of them dies suddenly, that’s the worst time in the world to try to figure these things out. But, I’ve seen it happen a lot.”

The first step to becoming acquainted with personal finances is to gather the appropriate documents, says Jane Mudgett, financial advisor and financial planning specialist at Morgan Stanley Smith Barney in Tulsa.

“I like to call it what you own and what you owe,” Mudgett says. “Your mortgage, your assets, your 401(k) – it’s your personal net worth.”

“Many women don’t know what bills need to be paid each month, or how much money it takes to run the household,” says JoAnn Schaub, senior vice president and manager, institutional wealth management at BOK Financial.

“They don’t know what their assets or investments or debts are. But women need to know what they are and where to find them.”
Determining how cash flows through a household leads to the development of a budget, which doesn’t always have to be hard and fast – a budget range is okay too, Mudgett says.

“Maybe you can work your budget into what you’re already doing,” Mudgett says. “It may be that you’re spending too much money, but maybe not. You never know until you put a plan together.”

The key to guarding against financial crisis is an emergency fund stocked with three to six months of income, says both Schaub and Mudgett.

Then, “if you have a financial adviser, make sure you’re meeting with him or her,” Schaub says. “Don’t rely on a family member for this, which is what most people do. It’s better to go to someone who’s a professional and who’s independent.”

The bright side for women who are diving headlong into an intimidating area of their lives? There’s no need to learn everything at once.
“It’s easy to start to think that you’ll never learn everything you need to know,” says Schaub. “But you can rely on professionals you trust. Leave the details to them. You want to have that general knowledge so you can oversee what they’re doing. You’ll build your knowledge over time. It’s a process. The more you ask questions, the more you’ll know.”

Globetrotting For Gutsy Women

If the size of the travel and tourism industry is any indication, life just can’t be lived to its fullest in one place and one place only. After all, how could a $582 billion industry be wrong?

It’s not, and women, it’s time to give in to that wanderlust, says Marybeth Bond, editor-author of 11 books, including 50 Best Girlfriend Getaways in North America, as well as the blog www.gutsytraveler.com.

“I never regretted any trip I took, no matter how inconvenient, expensive or unnecessary it seemed in the planning stage,” Bond says. “I only regretted the trips I didn’t take.”

Bond says remembering that the rewards far outweigh the minimal risks of traveling can ease first-trip jitters.

“The fear and discomfort with traveling alone diminishes with time and experience,” Bond says. “Don’t let fear keep you at home. Every year, try doing something on your bucket list.”

“The first time is the hardest. But one small risk leads to larger risks until you have made leaps in confidence and you are a competent traveler. More and more women are taking that first step every day,” Bond says, adding that Baby Boomer women are increasingly traveling alone or with other women.

As when any time the urge for adventure strikes, don’t throw caution to the wind when it’s time to hit the road. The best advice for single travelers, says Frank Evans, the marketing director at Southern Journeys, a travel agency with locations in Tulsa and Oklahoma City, is to know before you go.

“As much as you possibly can, get familiar with the area before you take your trip,” Evans says. “I mean more than just the big attractions – the subway is a good thing to know about, if there is one where you’re going.”

Especially on a first trip to a new destination, it might not be the best idea to do as the locals do.

“When you’re traveling alone, especially to another country, it’s best to stay near the tourist areas,” Evans says.

Traveling singles should keep a tight lip when talking with friends made on the road, Evans says.

“Especially don’t be too specific about where you’re staying,” Evans says. “Have your luggage marked with your ID so that it can be recognized.”

Travel is one of the fastest ways for anyone, man or woman, to boost his or her self-worth, Bond says.

“Many gutsy women are traveling, and many more need only a word or two of encouragement to get out the door.”

Following the advice of seasoned travelers will “confirm your own instincts and inspire new ideas about traveling the world. You will not be the only woman traveling – there are many like-minded, courageous women out there,” Bond says.

The Scientific Method

By

Corrie McGee

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April 21, 2011

Call it bringing your work home. When Luke and Pamela Szweda, both research scientists, decided to build a home, their main requirement was for it to be efficient in terms of use of space and materials used.

“Efficiency is fundamental to a scientist’s work. My clients believe in the idea of living with what you need and not cluttering the space with unnecessary elements,” says architect Brian L. Freese.

“In the design, our goal was to create volume and a feeling of spaciousness.”

The result of this collaboration is a two-level, 2,400 square-foot wedge-shape residence, which allows for the sense of volume the Szwedas desired, and also the efficient use of space in an environmentally responsible structure.

Keeping with efficient design, the home is laid out east to west, and the main exposure is north and south.

“On the southern side, large windows face the street, which engages the neighborhood. It also has the trellises and louvers, allowing for heating in the winter and staying cool in the summer,” Freese says.

By using materials like concrete and cork for flooring as well as even more unique choices for the stairwell, such as polycarbonate – a product often used in greenhouses – Freese achieved a sense of simple elegance. The structure itself is made largely of a structural insulated panel system.

“The walls and roof were up in a week. It’s a super-fast, super-efficient way to build,” Freese says of the system.

The main floor of the home houses all of the rooms with the exception of a second floor loft area.

By using construction-grade medium density fiberboard, Freese kept building materials as simple as possible.

“I’m a big fan of pocket doors and similar approaches that don’t obstruct the flow of space.”

The living area is sparsely decorated. A handcrafted metal giraffe sculpture, made by Pamela’s father, adds visual interest to the room.
Custom designed shelving units on commercial grade rollers are used in the study. Freese also custom designed wardrobes on the second level in a similar fashion.

“The furniture is intentionally movable and allows them to create a space of their own that can grow and change as they do,” Freese says.
Throughout the house there are no more than six doors to be found. A large barn door is an example of the judicious use of space in doorways.

“It’s an example of using an opening in an interesting way,” Freese says. “I’m a big fan of pocket doors and similar approaches that don’t obstruct the flow of space.”

In keeping with this idea, he became interested in polycarbonate plastic a few years back while visiting a greenhouse nursery in Tulsa. The material allows for light to come through and a sense of space without separating completely.

“The stairwell becomes this glowing box,” Freese says of the polycarbonate-lined space. “The skylight above creates a glow in the stairwell space that it encloses and it acts like an anchor to the whole house.”

Part of Freese’s signature style is to create something that gives owners a sense of connection between indoors and outdoors. In this case, the entire design of the house works in harmony with the ground and Midwest horizon line.

To capitalize on the colors in nature, Freese kept the entire house a warm shade of white.

“White reflects other colors better than anything else,” Freese explains.

When the Szwedas are enjoying a wonderfully colorful Oklahoma sunset, that brilliant color reflects throughout the house.

“I am a Modernist at heart. I believe the homes and buildings we design from this era should look like they were designed in this era,” Freese says.

He believes that true architecture reflects the era and geography of the place where it sits, which is the wide-open expanse of the Oklahoma plains.

Fresh Music – May, 2011

By

Staff

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April 20, 2011

Eric Himan, Supposed Unknown – The Tulsa based folk-rocker returns with his seventh solo studio recording; a work filled with powerful emotion, yearning and self-discovery. It’s clearly a very personal album, yet the sentiments are those anyone can relate to. It’s also Himan’s most musically diverse effort to date, sampling genres from Motown to rockabilly, blues to pop and points in between. May 2.

Fleet Foxes, Helplessness Blues – The Seattle-based indie folk trio (now apparently a quartet) became darlings of the indie music scene and critic favorites with their EP Sun Giant and their self-titled debut album, both in 2008. The band intended to release their follow up in late 2009, but touring schedules kept them out of the studio. Early tracks from Helplessness Blues should have fans thinking it was worth the wait. May 3.

Stevie Nicks, In Your Dreams – The legendary solo artist and Fleetwood Mac frontwoman unveils her seventh studio album, her first in a decade. The album ranges from its debut single “Secret Love,” which Nicks says she wrote around 1975, to seven new songs penned with her co-producer, Eurythmics’ Dave Stewart. May 3.

Lady Gaga, Born This Way – With her meteoric rise to fame and domination of the charts, it’s hard to fathom this is only Gaga’s second studio album. Is she in for a sophomore slump? Not likely. The title track is already a huge hit, and fans and critics alike have easily made this the most anticipated release of the year. A tremendous job has been done of keeping this album under wraps, but Gaga has set the bar, telling one concert audience Born This Way will be the album of the decade. May 23.

Spring in the Square

By

Staff

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April 20, 2011

Saturday mornings were made for Spring in the Square. In its third year, the event – which takes place 10 a.m.-5 p.m. May 21 at Utica Square – has quickly become established as one of the must-see stops on the road from February to June, when winter gives way to beautiful weather before summer overtakes the day. Spring in the Square means sidewalks lined with delicate flowers, expert gardeners delightfully conversing over soil chemistry and families strolling the grounds to see what’s in stock and bloom with outdoor vendors. Prizes will be given away during the event, and don’t forget to take part in the photography contest. Seminars on how to get the most of those spring beds will also be available to green thumbs of all skill levels. Spring in Oklahoma is a brief stop on the calendar, so savor it when and where you can. For more go online at www.uticasquare.com.

Mayfest

By

Staff

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April 20, 2011

Every year, the sounds of festival, live music and excited crowds beckon all to downtown Tulsa. Once there, visitors find vendors lining the streets with vivid artwork, beautiful jewelry, unique crafts and stand after stand selling delicious festival foods. It’s good to head outdoors, and Mayfest makes it especially enticing. The 39th annual Tulsa International Mayfest will be May 19-22. Expect plenty of creative wares from local and national artists and artisans as well as music by Oklahoma musicians on three stages. The event’s national headliner, Phil Brown’s Guitar Army, will play his Jimi Project, a tribute to Jimi Hendrix, on Saturday night. Children claim their own area with the KidZone, which features family music, the Tulsa Shock mascot and the new fossil dig site presented by the Tulsa Geosciences Center. For a complete schedule of events and other details, go to www.tulsamayfest.org or call 918.582.6435.

Answered Prayers

By

Staff

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April 20, 2011

Four years ago this month, a howl of excitement from concert-goers ushered Lucinda Williams onto the Cain’s Ballroom stage.
Ever since one of music’s most celebrated artists and songwriters gave the city first prize for best audience on her West tour, we’ve waited (and waited) for more.

Good things, indeed, come to those who wait.

The Grammy Award-winning artist will sing for T-Town again on May 10 back at that stalwart institution of all-things-rockin’ – Cain’s Ballroom. Fresh from the release of her new album, Blessed, Williams and company bring a sound to the halls of Western swing that continues to bust-up stale musical labels.

It’s not enough to call Williams simply a country act when she draws from a deep heritage of blues, folk, rock, poetry and country to sing tales of heartbreak, passion and anger.

Blessed continues with fevered emotions and sensuous lyrical detail, but most critics have lauded the new album as a more balanced vision from one named by Time magazine as America’s best songwriter.

Here, audiences find a Williams looking beyond her Louisiana roots at the condition of others. The songs are struggles to understand, a stance most of us know well.

Recorded in 1978, her debut album Ramblin’ was all blues and folk goodness. The breakthrough known as 1998’s Car Wheels on a Gravel Road merged all her influences into one of the most celebrated American music recordings.

With Blessed, Williams continues to defy simple description, and she seems to enjoy herself doing it. This month, we’ll all feel a little blessed, too.

For tickets and more, go online to www.cainsballroom.com.

Local Love

By

Staff

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April 20, 2011

What happens when fresh ingredients from local farmers and ranchers are combined with two gourmet chefs and an artisanal bartender? Incredibly original dishes that tantalize the palate along with handcrafted cocktails, which make for a meal you’ll never forget. It’s all at Ludivine, a gourmet restaurant owned and operated by Jonathon Stranger, Russ Johnson and Kyle Fleischfresser.

Stranger began his culinary journey at a very young age, eventually studying in New York and cooking across the globe, acquiring European, Asian and Caribbean influences.

“But when I moved back to Oklahoma,” he explains, “I didn’t realize how much the food culture here had changed.”

Some might recognize Stranger from his days at Table One, where he paired with Chef Ryan Parrott in an unusual one-table setting to prepare multiple-course dishes in front of patrons using local and organic ingredients. But when Parrott and Stranger parted ways in September 2009, Russ Johnson and Kyle Fleischfresser helped Stranger take ideas from Table One to birth an entirely new restaurant. Table One was Stranger’s test kitchen, but Ludivine became the canvas on which he’d do his greatest work.

Johnson has an equally impressive resume, a lifetime of cooking for just about any audience imaginable around the world, with strong French infusions. For both Stranger and Johnson, the way to culinary perfection is the same: quality, in-season ingredients from a local source.

“The menu is very seasonal and day-to-day,” Stranger says. “In the winter we’ve got European-style heavier dishes, but now that it’s spring, we’ve got a lot of light cuisine with Asian influence.”

Patrons should check the website to find out the latest news.

“At Ludivine, some of the food is gourmet and some is not,” Stranger explains. “We try to hit all levels. You can spend a lot of money or not at all.”

A few crowd favorites include the roasted bone marrow with pickled shallot, grain mustard and peach butter, but patrons can try something more intricate, like the cassoulet maison: flageolet, braised lamb bacon, house-made pork sausage and mallard leg confit.

With every dish Johnson and Stranger dream up, Fleischfresser couples a specialty cocktail to complement. The son of Coach House’s Kurt Fleischfresser, his bartending skills were groomed at The Lobby Bar, but Johnson and Stranger hired Fleischfresser to introduce independent craft spirits to Ludivine patrons. Ludivine’s bar features a wide selection of cocktails, local wine and beer.

“What Kurt is to food, Kyle is to cocktails,” Stranger says.

When asked about his favorite dish to prepare, Stranger says, “When you make a dish from scratch every day, you get excited about each one.”

805 N. Hudson, Oklahoma City. www.ludivineokc.com

A Loop and a Roll

By

Natasha Ball

-

April 20, 2011

About a dozen times each spring and summer, Ashley Battles secures her feet to the wing of a red, white and blue 1943 Super Stearman airplane. Then, dressed very much like Wonder Woman, she stands tall as pilot Greg Shelton flies the plane at 155 miles per hour through barrel rolls and dives and steep climbs into the sky.

To Shelton and Battles, it’s just another day in the Greg Shelton Air Show, a globe-trotting aerobatics production based in Collinsville.

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Shelton met Battles at an air show when friends of his overheard her expressing an interest in walking the wings of an airborne airplane. Shelton had been performing on the air show circuit for 13 years, and in 2003 he decided he wanted to add a wing walker to his act. He’d been searching for just the right partner.

“Finding the right person for the act was, first, a matter of finding somebody who wants to get out there on the wings and do this,” Shelton says. “And on top of that, you need someone with personality – someone who likes to talk and sign autographs.”

Shelton says he talked to several candidates, but when he met Battles at that fateful air show, he knew she had the right personality.
“There I was, really young and with no idea what I was doing, and Greg was this big-time, veteran air show performer. I thought, ‘Even if I do terribly or if I get sick, all I have to do is walk once and I’ll forever be a wing walker,’” Battles says.

The younger half of the duo says she is generally not a risk taker.

“I drive like a grandma and I’m terrified of motorcycles. But wing-walking doesn’t feel like a risk. I can’t even do a simple cartwheel, but I can maneuver all over this airplane like a gymnast. I’ve never had a drive or a passion as strong for anything else,” Battles says.

When she’s not sailing through the sky with nothing between her and the ground except the wing of a World War II-era biplane, Battles spends her time during show season speaking and signing autographs. She has a strong following of young girls, who line up before shows for a chance to meet her face to face.

“I have been blown away at the response of young girls to wing walking,” she says. “They are so great to talk to. They ask really good questions, and they are so interested, so open and hungry for answers. I just hope I can inspire them to go for something they want to do, to not take no for an answer.”

Fated To Fly

Shelton and Battles both say they have loved flying and airplanes since they were kids.
“It’s something I’ve always wanted to do,” Shelton says.

“I knew I wanted to be a pilot, and I knew I wanted to do that for the rest of my life, but it didn’t quite fit. I wasn’t sure why,” Battles says. “When I found wing-walking, I found my niche in life.”

It was Battles’ early love of flying that led her from her home state of Georgia to attend flight school in Tulsa. She’s been a pilot herself for more than 10 years, but she hadn’t been flying long when, on a calm day and under a blue sky, she first walked on the wing of one of Shelton’s airplanes. She was 20 years old.

“We did a loop and a roll and she climbed back down,” Shelton says. “We talked about it, and she liked it. We kept adding tricks as time went on.”

“I couldn’t breathe at all the first time we went up,” Battles laughs. “I didn’t know cheek muscles could hurt like that, but mine did. Wing-walking is like being shoved into a brick wall with no end in sight.

“I had to call my mom to tell her I was about to climb out on the wing of an airplane, but that was nothing compared to how nervous I was to have to tell her I’d be taking a semester off from school because the show had taken off and we were so busy,” Battles adds.
The show will travel as far as the Dominican Republic this season, and the pair will perform at shows throughout the U.S., too, visiting states from Maine to Louisiana.

“If I can fly to it, we’ll go,” Shelton said.

“People tell us we bicker like we’re married,” Battles says. “As much as I love doing this show, when Greg’s done, I’m done. Our relationship is built on a huge amount of trust.”

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